"If a writer stops observing he is finished. But he does not have to observe consciously nor think too much about what he is seeing. It will come out in his writing if he truly sees it."

"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen."

"All good books are alike in that if you have read one carefully you have to read it again."

"Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you are a lucky man to remember it."

"There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges."